Hand-bomb.



, l i. SARDO.

' HAND 80MB.

maw-mmf@ ammi/0 w 2nd@ JACOB SARDO, 0F JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

HAND-BOMB.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918.

Application led June 27, 1918. Serial No. 242,231.

To all whom t may concern:

,Beit known that I, JACOB SARDO, a citizen of theUnited` States,residing at Johnstown, in the county ofCambria and State ofPennsylvania, have invented'c'ertain new Aand useful Improvements inHand-Bombs, of which the following is. a specication.

. My invention relates to bombs designed to be thrown .by` hand. y

The object `is. to provide a hand bomb or grenade which can beconveniently thrown a much greater Idistance than has heretoforebeen`found practicable to attempt.

Another object is to `provide a bomb which can `be thrownwith uniformaccuracy.

`A further object is to provide a bomb so constructed that the time fuse(when a fuse is used) will not be caught between the bomb and theground, and damagedor cut oit as the bomb strikes the ground.

(,)ther objects will appear in the subjoined description.`

l3 illustrates in an exaggerated way the movementsandpathof travelof abomb apparentlylike minein general principle, but with a different`aria-ngement of parts from that Whichl employ; and Figa `is a viewillustrating the movements `and path of travel of myimproved bomb whenthrown at an object. Fig. 5 is a view ofl my improved hand` bomb, 'thesame consisting of a pointed projectile.` y

In.l carrying out mv invention, I employ an elongatedbomb l `provided onits outside with a mark 2 at the point of its center of gravity, andhaving an elongated flexible member `3 secured at one` end around thebomb atthe center of gravity of the bomb, and free at its other endwhere it is preferably provided with mcansior more securely holding `theflexible memberby the hand of the operator.`

My present invention applies to all kinds of elongated hand bombsregardless of what kind of explosives and missiles may be used insidethem. There are `many diierent kinds of .fillings for bombs, andsometimes lthe same ingredients are employed in difselves are exactlyalike.

gravity in rthe respectivebombs."v Hence the center ofgravity falls atdifferent points in different shells,` even when the shells them- Forthisreason the mark 2 is not placed on the shell of my bomb till thepoint-of the center of gravity of the filled bomb islknown. y

Having themark 2 on the shell enables a comparativelyinexperienced`person to attach the flexible member A3. at the correct point in everyinstance. ln handling and shipping the shells,..this flexible `membersometimes `gets slipped-outlof 'place on a shell but the mark 2indicates'that fact to the eye of any interested observer, ,so that itcan at once be put back in its proper place. Also, Vif throughcarelessness or otherwise, the flexible'member is sometimes broken oli,it can be quickly replaced by a new one at exactly theright place, byeven themost unskilled person if necessary. The force of what has justbeen said` about the Hexible member slipping, and the value ofthe mark2, etc., all grows out of the fact that these bombs are often handled inthe greatest haste, under the most extreme stress and excitement, andbythe most inexperienced and unskilled persons. They are also. verycommonly used under circumstances where even a few seconds delay mightresult in irreparable loss including the life oi' the operator. Hencethe great. importance which here attaches to a matter which underordinary circumstances would be only'trival.

lt `will seldom happen that the center of gravity of the bomb `will beat its longitudinal center, for as a rule one end of the bomb will beheavier than the other. Sometimes the heavier end will be the inner endand sometimes the outer end: and this brings us to a. consideration ofthe great importance and advantage of having the flexible connection 3engage the bomb at approximately its center of gravity rather than atits longitudinal center or at any other point in its longitudinal extentor at either of its ends; but before discussing this point let it benoted that the bombs may sometimes be red by fuses (the most importantof which are time fuses), and sometimes by other ordinary or preferredmeans. Sometimes they are arranged to be fired by the concussion ofwould 'naturallythink that Vthe best place to attach the flexibleconnection would be at one end of the bomb rather than at the pointwhere applicant attaches it, just as in throwing a stick one naturallytakes hold of one end 0f it rather than at its middle portion oranywhere else, as he seems to knowhe can` throw itbetter thatway: andthe thrower soon also learns'that the Stick goes better when he takes-hold of the lighter end ofit in preferencer tothe heavier end., Butevery country-bred boy knows the practical impossibility of throwing astick in the ordinary way without its turning end over end as it goes,especially if he makes a long throw. But he soon learns to takeadvantage of this inevitable tendency of a'stick to turn as it goes whenthrown at an object, and so a stick or club becomes his favorite missilefor bringing down apples and chestnuts from the trees, because with itswide. sweep as itV turns over and over it is apt to hit a limb andrelease therefrom the desired treasure.

The Australian bushman lalso knows how to take advantage of thistendency of a thrown stick to turn, and so he has become anjexpert withhis boomerang and makes itk work in a magical way toperform apparent.

impossibilities. But while every country boy lknows that for a` shortthrow he can throw the stick (due to the swing he gets on it) fartherthan he could throw a stone of the same weight, yet when he wants tomake a long throw and bring down the chestnuts from` the tops of thehigh trees, he has to resort to stones: he cant ythrow the stick farenoughand he cant throw a small stick as far as he can a heavier one,though of two stonesof the same weight as the twosticks he can throw thelighter one the farthest.

Now, '1t is altogether desirable that bombs shouldl be elongated inshape rather than otherwise: one that is' cylindrical is much to bepreferred to one that is spherical;y one reason of this among others,being that an elongated bomb is much more conveniently andeconomicallyvmanufactured and handledY than one that is round like a ball, or anyother shape. But it is also greatly important that these hand bombsshould be capable of being-thrown the greatest possible distance,

which at times will be as great an advantage as to have longer rangeguns than the other fellow.Y Hence'the problem confronting us is toprovide means by which the elongated or cylindrical bomb may be thrown,if possible, as far as can one that is round like a ball. This at firstsight may seem quite impossible, since, as has already been shown, astick cannot be thrown as far as a stone. But the difficulty in throwingthe stick does not arise from the fact that it is elongated, but fromthe fact that its initial impulse is given it by swinging it unavoidablythrough a curve or they arc of va circle, of which the n shoulder of theoperator is, roughly speaking,rthe center, and this initial curve causesthestick'to turn end over end and thus meet with great resistance fromthe atmosphere as it travels forward. The fact that one end of the'stickis almost invariably heavier than theother also somewhat increases thetendency of the stick to turn overas justy above referred to, inadditionto the fact that one end of the stick in its initial swing isswung through the arc of' a greater circle than the other end, and thuslhas more momentum imparted to it than the other end of the stick even ifboth ends should chance to be exactly alike. But while a stick is anelongated object, and one end is usually heavier than the other, yetneither or both of these facts within themselves constitute the reasonwhy a stick cannot be thrown farther than it can. This is abundantlyproved by the fact that an arrow which is usually greatly elongated, andheavier at one end than the other, can yet be shot to a great'distancewith a bow, and with great accuracy too. The shells shot from cannon arealso elongated 1n preference' to theV round balls'formerly usedzrthelong shell goes farther thanthe round ball. But no one can throw anarrow to any great distance by`hand,lfor the real aggerated way themovements and the ypath that would be traversed by a bomb thrown with aflexible member attached to the end of the bomb.` The end of the bombfarthest from the hand fof the operator is here suis*- posed to beslightlyV heavier than the other end to which'the flexible connectionis'at-V tached, and this heavier end is indicated by fav'double: line.Nowwthisibomb is supposedto be thrown from the hand of the operatorinvthe usual manner, z'. e., byk a downward-and-npward swing. Let usnotice-in the first place that the flexible member or `sling' is ofnecessity comparatively short, sinceithe bombis ofitself long enough toextend down from .the hand of .the operator to a point not very far fromthe ground when `the operator` assumes the stooping `position, as hemust do to make the best possible throw. `Thenrthe flexible member mustnot be long enough to permit the bomb to strikefthe `ground yas it isswung. Hence the flexible `member will of necessity be too short to bevery effective, since the power of` awisling is Iin direct` proportionto its length. vlfnuthenent. place a `bomb thrown by a short sling, asvindicated in this figure, will have imparted to it a much greatertendency to turn endovcr end than if it had been `thrown `with a longersling. The general direction of the forward movement oftheibombwillofcourse be in a curved line, but `as :the heavier endof thebomb goes up, as indicatedby positions 5,6, 7, V10, andli. the wholebomb` will tend to rise with it, and as the heavier end .comes down, asindicated in positionsS, 9, `12, 13,4 and 14, the whole bombwill tend ina measure to come down with it; so that the center of the bomb as itadvances after havinggleftlthe hand of the operator 'willtraveliin awavy curve turning end over end as it, Goes, thereby traveling in a longcrooked path, and meeting with great resi'stanceifrom the atmosphere.The result of all Ithis will be that the bomb cannot be thrown very faror very accurately by a sling attached to one of its ends as illustratedin Fig. 3.

If the sling should be attached to the heavier end of the bomb insteadof the lighter end, the result would be still more unsatisfactory.

Moreover, if the slings are attached to the ends of the bombs. they willbe in far greater danger of getting cut in two or worn off in handlingand shipping, than if attachedV as shown in Fig. l, and it would in thatcase be hard to replace them. Again, if a time fuse is used in a bomb,the end of the bomb is the most convenient place for the fuse to enterthe bomb; and if a bomb with a time fuse is thrown in the mannerindicated in Fig. 3, when the bomb strikes the ground, the time fuse mayget caught between the edge of the bomb and the ground and cut off'.

I will now describe the operation of mv improved bomb as illustrated inFig. 4. In the irst place attention s called to the fact that the handof the operator in Fig. 3 of the drawings is the same distance from theground line l5, as is t-he hand in Fig. 4 from '.lthe ground line 16 ofthat figure. It becomes. apparent at a glance `that au much longerflexible `member or `sling `3 can -be used with imy device than with theother. That isone strong pointin its favor, for the whole object of asling is to get as long a sweepas possible Vin throwinganything.

In `thenext place, my bomb zis thrown with its longitudinal axisdisposedhorizontally throughout its initial impulse.l so that notendency is imparted to the bomb to move out of a horizontal position.Hence there will be no tendency in the bomb to turn end over end as ittravels forwardly. As already stated, one end of every bomb is apt to beat least slightly heavier. than the other, and the resistance of the airwill cause the heavier end ofthe bomb to move forward horizontally, alittle faster than the other end, and thus to .gradually gain on theother end as the bomb advances toward its goal, so` that `the bomb will`presently be `traveling in a longitudinal direction 4in much the sameway as if it had been thrown from a mortar. It will travel in a truecurve and4 will have no tendency to travel no fjectile 4.shot .from arifled gun. This of .course will be rather an advantage than otherwiseto the bomb, tending as it does to increase the accuracy with which itwill travel toward its target.

My construction permits the longest possible liexible member or sling 3.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have here produced 'a bombarranged to be hurled to an unusual distance, in a manner causing thebomb in its movements to simulate the movements of a projectile thrownfrom a rified gun, so that with my arrangement bombs can be uniformlythrown with great accuracy at the desired targets.

Fig. 4 of the drawings clearly illustrates certain features referred toabove. The bomb is here shown occupying its true horizontal positionwhen given its initial impulse. As soon as it leaves the hand of theoperator it begins to assume the position indicated at 17. A littlefarther on it has taken the position shown at 18,:xpproaching nearer andnearer to a true longitudinal movement which is reached at 19. Afterthis position has been reached gravity will cause the heavier end of thebomb to begin to gradually point downwardly as indicated at 20 and 21.Therefore in the case of bombs that are not provided with fuses, but aredesigned to be ferred tofwill be reached sooner, and if the exploded byconcussion, one kmay calculate with reasonable certaintythat the heavierend of the bomb will strike the ground first, and arrange the firingmeans accordingly.

If the sling 3 be attached to the shell a shade in advance of the line 2(which indicates the point of the center of gravity of the bomb), towardthe heavier end of the bomb, this will cause the bomb to more readilyturn into the position indicated at 19 where it begins to advance in alongitudinal direction. On the other hand, if the sling 3 is attached tothe shell a shade from the line 2 toward-the lighter end of the shell,the shell will be slower in reaching the position indicated at 19. f

In Fig. i the line of travel of the bomb is indicated by the dottedcurved line 22.

lif the heavier end of the bomb be pointed as illustrated in Fig. 5 ofthe drawings, instead of being fiat, the resistance of the airencountered by the bomb in its flight will be still less..

It must not be inferred from the foregoing that, when my bomb is givenits initial swing,its longitudinal axis must be always disposed atexactly a right angle to the line of travel of the bomb, for if eitherend of the bomb be a little in advance of the other, the heavier endwill gradually gain on the lighter end till the longitudinal positionindicated at 19 is reached. -llf the heavier end is in advance at thestart the position relighter end later, than when `a truesidewise swingis given. The law here referred to will always come into play unlessthebomb is thrown-end foremost, javelin fashion; and it can be thrownthat way if desired, with the sling secured somewhat in advance of thecenter of gravityin the direction of the forward end of the bomb.

Having now describedmy invention, what I claim vas new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is f l. A hand bomb having an elongated shellprovided with ay flexiblemember for throwing the bomb, said iiexiblemember. engaging the shell at approximately the center of gravity ofthe/bomb.

2. A hand bomb having an elongated shell; and a flexible connectionengaging the shell around thev outside thereof at approximately thecenter Aof gravityl of the bomb, the shell being provided on its outsidewith a' VmarkatY the point of the center'of gravity of the bomb.

3. An elongated'hand bomb provided with a sling member for Athrowing thebomb, said sling member engaging the ybomb between its endsl at amaterial distance from either of said ends.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature.

y, ,y JACOB SARDO. Witnesses:y i l EUGENEl Kooiv'rz,v

' HARRY F. TURNER.

" Copies of this patent may be obtained for five centseach, byaddresring Le Commissioner of Patente,

' v Washington, D. C. v

